ArticleFrontiers in behavioral neuroscience2014
"Executive functions" cannot be distinguished from general intelligence: two variations on a single theme within a symphony of latent variance.
Article in Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The unity and diversity of executive functions: A systematic review and re-analysis of latent variable studies.Psychological bulletin · 2018Pooled it
- Deficient executive control in transformer attention.PNAS nexus · 2026Article
- Development and Preliminary Validation of Standardized Regression-Based Change Scores as Measures of Transitional Cognitive Decline.Archives of clinical neuropsychology : the official journal of the National Academy of Neuropsychologists · 2025Article
- Affliction class moderates the dementing impact of adipokines.Neuropsychology · 2025Article
- Statin use moderates APOE's and CRP's associations with dementia and is associated with lesser dementia severity in ε4 carriers.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2024Article
- The effects of CNS atrophy and ICVD on tests of executive function and functional status are mediated by intelligence.Cerebral circulation - cognition and behavior · 2023Article
- Intelligence, cognition, and major neurocognitive disorders: From constructs to measures.Cerebral circulation - cognition and behavior · 2023Article
- Selection of Mice for Object Permanence Cognitive Task Solution.Neurology international · 2022Article
- Blood-based protein mediators of senility with replications across biofluids and cohorts.Brain communications · 2020Article
- Blood-based protein predictors of dementia severity as measured by δ: Replication across biofluids and cohorts.Alzheimer's & dementia (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2019Article
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- The Role of Alzheimer's and Cerebrovascular Pathology in Mediating the Effects of Age, Race, and Apolipoprotein E Genotype on Dementia Severity in Pathologically-Confirmed Alzheimer's Disease.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2016Article
- Frontal Lobe Function and Risk of Hip Fracture in Patient With Alzheimer Disease: An Analysis of Linked Data.Medicine · 2015Observational
- The cooking task: making a meal of executive functions.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2015Article
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Abstract
The empirical foundation of executive control function (ECF) remains controversial. We have employed structural equation models (SEM) to explicitly distinguish domain-specific variance in executive function (EF) performance from memory (MEM) and shared cognitive performance variance, i.e., Spearman's "g." EF does not survive adjustment for both MEM and g in a well fitting model of data obtained from non-demented older persons (N = 193). Instead, the variance in putative EF measures is attributable only to g, and related to functional status only through a fraction of that construct (i.e., "d"). d is a homolog of the latent variable δ, which we have previously associated specifically with the Default Mode Network (DMN). These findings undermine the validity of EF and its putative association with the frontal lobe. ECF may have no existence independent of general intelligence, and no functionally salient association with the frontal lobe outside of that structure's contribution to the DMN.
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